i am at a loss for words

Sad! And something I will never understand!!

OMG... I'm sitting here gaped mouth! How can you "forget" your kid in the car for 9 hours?!?! That's insane. That poor baby... it couldn't have been a quick death either. I'm appaled!

Wow... that is very sadly astounding. If it's part of your normal routine, how would you forget? I hate to speculate foul play... if she had God on her side I believe He would have intervened and reminded her. Poor baby, but he's in Heaven now.

This is amazing to me.. How do you forget your child!!!!

There are no words for this!! NONE.....

She should be left in a car all day herself, and see how it felt......

Tons of prayers to the baby,, poor innocent child..

Seems like we have a story like this nearly ever week.

Some people shouldn't be allowed to breed.

and why aren't there any charges being drawn up against this woman?

I really think every parent needs a device like this:

http://www.babyalert.info/home.php

Maybe car seat manufacturers can get together with a company and essentially build devices like that into the car seat.

Well, unfortunately I realize it CAN happen.

When my dd was a baby, she was a horrible, HORRIBLE sleeper. Up 8-12 times during the night, every night, ALL night. Didn't sleep well during the day. As it turns out, she was later diagnosed with autism and some kids with autism are horrid sleepers.

Anyway, after months and months of this, I was hardly functioning. At the time, I worked only 3 mornings a week, and my dh usually stayed home with her those mornings. However, when she was 2, and still not sleeping, she began going to a Montessori school. She'd been going a couple of weeks and I'd usually drop her off and then go on to work.

One morning, I pulled into work as usual. I was gathering up my things and out of the corner of my eye saw a movement. What a SHOCK! I had forgotten our new routine and hadn't dropped her at school. At that moment, I suddenly realized that it COULD HAVE HAPPENED TO ME! I was horrified.

Does that make me a woman "unfit to breed?" Should I have been arrested for "briefly forgetting?" Should I be put in a hot car to bake to death? Was I trying to get rid of my nuisance child? Absolutely NOT! In my case, I was extremely lucky and today my dd is 10 years old and doing great--even sleeps!

It's been proven that these accidental child deaths have skyrocketed in the years since children have been required to ride in the backseats of cars. Indeed, children sometimes DO become "out of sight, out of mind" when completing a new or relatively new routine, especially if sleep deprived or adjusting to many of the issues that come with having a new child in the family. It is tragic nonetheless.

Now, as for the parents who intentionally leave their kids in the car so they can go play slot machines, drink in a bar or something like that--well, that is completely different IMO. Those stories often have the parent quoting, "I only meant to stay a minute" or "I thought cracking the windows would be OK."

I feel for all involved in these accidents.

Cally

If there is a Judeo-Christian God, surely he is on everyone's side... especially innocent babies. Why he doesn't intervene, I cannot imagine.

The same thing happened here a year or two ago. One thing that would prevent some of these tragedies is if daycare centers would automatically call the parents of any child who didn't show up when he's expected.

Cally I do sympathize with your opinion after reading your story. And, I clicked on Jade's link and read the heart wrenching story about Mackenzee. It's really hard to say. It causes anger in people because they automatically think the parents are horrible and unworthy. Yet at the same time, look at the routines of families these days. So hectic, running around with so many activities going on. And, I know when I have a child I will be getting that alert system Jade posted a link to. A couple times I have put my garbage in the trunk, left the trunk open, and drove all the way to work or my next destination before I realize I didn't stop at the dumpster to throw it out! That means that from my parking space to the apartment dumpster, I forgot. Now, I have chronic memory problems because of a bad car accident I was in 8 years ago, but still. Hopefully the increase in these stories will result in more alert equipment available to help.

I understand, Cally, and I admire you for sharing your story.

I also understand why no charges are being brought against this woman. What legal punishment could they give this woman that could compare to living for the rest of her life with the knowledge that she's responsible for her child's death?

A huge part of the blame for this kind of tragedy, I think, is the ever-increasing complexity and difficulty of daily life. We should never have allowed our economy to become such that most families cannot live reasonably on a single income.

By requiring both parents to work, we have ensured that no matter how hard they try, they cannot possibly give their children the close supervision and direct care that used to be the norm in this country. And we've put so much time pressure on ourselves... it's almost inevitable that horrific mistakes like this are going to happen.

I'm so forgetful that I could totally see myself at least momentarily forgetting something as important as my own child. Especially a young child where the mommy routine is still relatively new. We'll certainly be buying an alert system when we have kids.

Yes, an alert system will certainly help. Hopefully, there won't be too many people who think "It could never happen to me" when trying to decide whether or not to purchase one.

Raising a child is TOUGH. In fact, each year on my dd's birthday, I think to myself, "I've kept her alive another year." There are risks and dangers around every bend. One misstep and life as you know it is gone.

Cally

I also sympathize with Cally but I can't believe this women worked all day and didn't remember. I'm still shocked. I'm sure she feels like the worst person in the world and it's true that we don't know her circumstances but still, WOW.

There was a case a few years back in my home state where a mother- that was completely exhausted and sleep deprived from dealing with their severely developmentally disabled toddler- forgot to drop her younger baby off at daycare on the way to work. Her husband called her that day when he went to pick up the baby from daycare and found she wasn’t there. By that time it was too late and the baby had died. The mom was hysterical and I felt so awful for that family because you could tell how much they loved their kids and worked hard for them. No charges were filed in that case either.

I looked up an old article on this to make sure I had my facts straight, and they had interviewed the national founder of “Kids and Cars†and the sleep deprivation clinic of a local hospital on how easily these things could happen to someone in that situation. It wasn’t something that just happened to careless or neglectful parents that some people would love to believe.
I feel bad for the children and their families in cases like that.

Thanks for sharing

I know a lot of people like to think that no good parents would ever forget a child, but these things happen. I'm glad your daughter was ok.

I do feel for all the good parents who lost a child due to a moment of distraction.

God had nothing to do with this. This post is out of line IMO.


I find it very sad that the mother spent all day at work without 1, ONE, thought of her baby.

I find it hard to believe that the mother spent all day at work without one thought of her baby. I'm sure she had many thoughts of her baby... and I'm also sure that any thoughts of that day had, in her mind, the baby tucked away safely at daycare.

Well, she was wrong, wasn't she?

And I suppose you've never been wrong in your lifetime?

People make mistakes. It's part of what makes us human. Sure, her mistake had horrible consequences, but so could many mistakes we make every day.

Two days ago I was cooking the dogs dinner and after they ate I came back here to chat thinking everything was fine. Dinner cooked. Dogs full. I was just waiting for them to tell me when they had to go out. Two hours later DH goes into the kitchen to get coffee and said "Uh hun? You left the stove on!" Could that have had horrible consequences? Sure.. I could have burned the house down. A cat could have jumped up on the stove and burned himself.

But did I do it on purpose? No. Turning off the stove is such an automatic thing for me that my brain just assumed I did it. Which is what I am sure happened to her, and to Cally. No, it's not good... but it's also not malicious.

So, child forgotten in hot car, ALL day, HORRIBLE death, just an accident, let it go, move on.

On the news just yesterday they did a report of the temperature that it gets in the car on such a hot day. In just a few minutes, it got up to 100, and within 1 hour it got to 135 degrees in the car.

Cindy (ckblv) found a very interesting article about the statistics involved, which she posted in this thread: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=136409
Article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070728/...us/left_to_die

Yes, I'm sure that's what she's doing. In fact, she probably has already had a big party and invited all her friends to celebrate the fact that due to a horrible accident she managed to kill her own baby.

I feel compelled to remind you of this post of yours.

Sympathy there, none here? It must be a harsh and perfect world you live in. If only we could all live up to such standards, but sadly, most of us are merely human.

I would like to know why the daycare didn't call one parent to find out why the child wasn't there?

Do they not do that for daycare?

I think it's a tragic accident. I would like to believe that. I don't get how a baby in a car could be missed by a passer by either.

I mean I work for animal control and people call in all day on hot days to report dogs in cars.

Anyway, I hope her family can cope with the loss of a baby. If it was an accident, I can not imagine the amount of guilt that mother has.

I have been wondering too why the daycare didn't call. That is surprising.

Here's another case. The babysitter canceled, so two kids were left in the car while their mother worked: http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/08/04...=googletoolbar